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Thomas R. Pickering

Vice Chairman, Hills & Company

Ambassador Pickering is vice chairman of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm providing advice to U.S. businesses on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad, particularly in emerging market economies. He retired in 2006 as senior vice president international relations for Boeing. He has had a career spanning five decades as a U.S. diplomat, serving as under secretary of state for political affairs, ambassador to the United Nations, ambassador to Russia, India, Israel, Nigeria, Jordan and El Salvador. He also served on assignments in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. He has held numerous other positions at the State Department, including executive secretary and special assistant to Secretaries Rogers and Kissinger and assistant secretary for the bureau of oceans, environmental and scientific affairs. He is based in Washington, DC.

Publications

The Century Foundation recently released a report from an international task force sent to Afghanistan, in the hopes that it might help to identify possible ways in which to end the war in Afghanistan.

Listen to experts review the findings of the recent report from the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Stimson Center, "A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future: Fixing the Crisis in Diplomatic Readiness," including recommendations to increase personnel and foreign aid.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says that, while he doesn't expect Hamas to change overnight, there is hope for the Middle East peace process if Israel can negotiate with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Written a year after U.S. and coalition forces went to war with Iraq, a time when American officials faced questions about U.S. staying power, this timely report strongly urges President Bush and senior members of Congress to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Iraq.

With mounting costs to American lives and treasure in Iraq, and success there so clearly tied to American staying power and the coherence of U.S. strategy, the Bush administration must sharpen and deepen its commitment to making Iraq a better and safer place. As a first step, the authors argue that the president should set the direction for his administration by making a major foreign policy address to the nation, explaining the importance of seeing the task through, as well as the costs and risks of U.S. engagement in postwar Iraq.

Written before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this report accurately predicted that winning the peace in Iraq would be a far greater challenge than winning the war. The report says that this challenge falls largely on President Bush, who must make clear to the world that the United States is prepared to stay the course for the multibillion-dollar, multiyear commitment of U.S. troops, civilian personnel, and other resources that will be needed to achieve a lasting peace.

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2014 Annual Report

Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2014 Annual Report. The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download »